DOSE:

oral

Codeine

(extract)

BODY WEIGHT:

200 lb

I started taking codeine last year to help with some toothache that more widely used analgesics weren't helping with at all. Here in the UK, codeine is available over the counter at pharmacies as a combination of 8mg Codeine with paracetamol (known as acetaminophen in the USA), ibuprofen or aspirin. I was at work at the time and went to the pharmacy in my lunch break. The friendly pharmacist sympathised and suggested co-codamol. I took a couple of tablets and over the next hour completely spaced out.

I should note here that, though I've experimented with other substances (mostly towards the psychedelic end of the spectrum (salvia, morning glory seeds, cannabis, etc.) I was completely opiate naive. 16mg of codeine really shouldn't be enough to do much more than reduce mild pain. I was fairly sleep deprived at the time, so perhaps this potentiated its effects. I suspect that I may also be fairly sensitive to opiates anyway.

The next day I had the tooth pulled. I had most of the pack left over after my jaw had healed and, intrigued by my initial reaction, I did some quick research on the internet. Surely the authorities wouldn't allow an easily abused opiate to be sold without prescription? It turned out they did and, what was more, there was an easy way to get rid of most of the paracetamol. This is the cold water extraction.

It's difficult to estimate losses of the drug to the inexact science of kitchen chemistry, so the following figures are just estimates.. The first time I abused the drug I took around 50mg (8 pills), but I soon progressed to doses between 100mg (16 pills) and 150mg (24 pills). 100mg is enough for me when I've not taken it for a while. If I've done it recently then the higher dose is necessary. I won't go into the details of the extraction itself since recipes are available all over the internet. Filtering the sludge of codeine, paracetamol and miscellaneous pill ingredients can be time-consuming, but I wouldn't consider taking the pills without extracting first. Unextracted, the higher dose (24 pills) would contain 12g of paracetamol, which is potentially life threatening. And while the lower doses may not contain fatal doses of paracetamol I doubt that dumping large amounts of it on my liver is a good idea.

Codeine is, for me, a way of taking a vacation from having to give a damn. Consumed as a solution in water, it comes on quite fast. I tend to feel the effects of drugs fairly quickly and codeine is no exception with the first hints coming on five minutes after ingestion. Sometimes I use cola to mask the rather bitter taste of the solution you're left with after extracting. It's the kind of taste I can get used to, though. After taking it a few times, it's far less objectionable neat than I imagined at first.

The full effects hit me around the half an hour mark along with some mild nausea and a fair amount of dizziness. Both are solved by lying down. My breathing slows. My limbs feel heavy and my eyes want to close. A delicious warmth surrounds me, as if I've been wrapped in cotton wool. Nothing really matters. Problems recede into the distance. It's apathy, but not the cold, charmless apathy of depression. It's difficult to care about anything when now seems so nice, so why not just lie back and enjoy the dumb smile that's suddenly on your face? Music is good at this point. I fade into it, mind blissfully empty. Daydreams about nothing much occur, rolling past uneventfully.

An hour later and the effects begin to wear off. The intensity fades slowly over a couple of hours. The rest of the day, and perhaps the next, I feel slowed down, slightly dumber than usual.

For a couple of weeks after discovering how wonderfully enjoyable the drug was, I used it fairly often, at first once each weekend, then once or twice during the week. The effects began to be dulled due to my slowly increasing tolerance. So I stopped taking it so often, limiting my use to once or twice a month, sometimes less. As with any opiate, it's entirely possible to develop an addiction, but the closest I came to that was some very mild cravings during my initial period of use and mild curiosity about stronger opiates. I avoided using it on any two consecutive days, which may have helped.

Codeine's a positive thing for me. I suffer from depression and codeine can occasionally help in place of more self-destructive ways of coping. It seems to have more of an anxiolytic effect for me than benzodiazepines like diazepam, though it does interfere with getting stuff done to a greater extent. Coming to rely on it on a regular basis would be a mistake, but I don't see this as at all likely. A note for anyone in a similar situation: I've been open with several doctors about my use of codeine and none have seen it as problematic. I may be abusing it, but I like to think I'm abusing it responsibly.

Exp Year: 2006	ExpID: 64240
Gender: Male
Age at time of experience: Not Given
Published: Aug 9, 2019	Views: 2,796
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Codeine (14), Sleep Deprivation (140) : Retrospective / Summary (11), Addiction & Habituation (10), Depression (15), Therapeutic Intent or Outcome (49), Not Applicable (38)